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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

This article is
intended to give a detailed explanation of the 6 darshanas which are

Nyaya (Logic or Tarka)

Vaisheshika (The Indian
atomic theory)

Sankya(The precursor to
contemporary Vedanta)

Yoga (Totally different from
the one practiced today. Based on Sankya)

Mimamsa (System of Vedic
interpretation, especially the ritualistic parts. This system is the basis
of the Indian constitution

Vedanta (Needs no
introduction)

What is the
meaning of darshanas and why “Astika”

The darshanas are
views (From the word darshan) or systems of philosophy. The word Astika means
all the above 6 accept the Veda as a valid source of knowledge, also called as
pramana. We will go into the details of what is a pramana and all the epistemological
back ground later. There are 6 other darshanas called nastika darshanas. They
are called nastika because they do not accept the veda as a valid source of
knowledge. These 6 Nastika darshanas are

Charvaka (Materialists, who
believe that there is nothing above the body)

Jainism

Four schools of Buddhism.

These Astika darshanas derive their
authority from the Veda and mostly deal with existential questions. The
following is the list of knowledge sources of Vaidhika Dharma (Decreasing order
of importance)

Four Vedas

The six angas
Shiksha(Phonetics), Chandas(Prosody), Nirukta(Lexicography),
Vyakarana(Grammar), Jyothisha(Astronomy), Kalpa(A cover term used for
Dharma, grihya and kalpa sutras)

The 6 Astika darshanas as
listed at the beginning of the article

Thus all 16 are called
together as the shodasa vidyas
sthanas. If a dharmic question arises, it should be settled by seeing
what the Veda says, if it is not clear then check the anga and so on.

The
relevance of the 6 Darshanas

The Vedic angas and
darshanas are very ancient and are right from the “Vedic period”. Unfortunately
majority of the Hindus are not aware of the immense knowledge, both spiritual
and worldly found in them. Grammatical, astronomical and geometrical and legal knowledge
are found within the Angas. The system of predicate logic, Elementary atomic theory, precursor to the concepts
of evolution and a framework for designing a legal system etc are found in the
darshanas. Without the knowledge of them we have become emaciated.

As a practical
application of the Darshanas let us consider a trivial example from the Veda (Taittriya
Aranyaka) and use a simple principle from the Poorva Mimamsa to resolve it. The
pravargya rite as defined by the Taittriya Aranyaka 1st prashna, is
the symbolic joining of Rudra's head to his body after he loses his head. But
in the same Aranyaka 8th prashna, it is said that the pravargya
represents symbolically the joining of Vishnu's head to his body after his head
was severed. Here we have two conflicting versions. How
do we resolve this? In Mimamsa we have the principle of Upasamhara or
proximity. The above story is provided as an arthavada (Eulogy) of the rite. So
the artavada appearing closer to the description of the
rite is to be taken. Also to derive the meaning of similar words have swaras that help to resolve them. We have krama pata
etc for error correction and detection. We do not have these things
for other texts.

It is imperative to
know at least the basics of the darshanas. Therefore this article.

Sources of
knowledge or pramana (Epistemology)

Before we go into the
depths of each darshana it is important to understand the meaning of the word “Pramana”. This word simply means “Right source of knowledge”. Epistemology in English means the science of
validating the source of knowledge. Indian systems have a very deep
understanding of this area. As a good example there is a book called “Pramana Lakshanam” by Madhava. It is available online
and can be easily searched on Google. It treats the subject of Epistemology in
depth. Indian Epistemology classifies pramanas or sources of knowledge into the
following

Pratyaksha (Direct
perception). When one see's a fire he can conclude there is a fire

Anumana (inference).
When one does not directly see fire, but sees smoke one can conclude there
is a fire burning

Shruti Pramana (Verbal
testimony).When one did not go out
of the house, but hears from his neighbor that there is a fire burning
somewhere, this is verbal testimony. As said earlier, the Veda is taken as
a reliable source of shruti pramana. Again we discuss this in detail
later.

Upamana or Analogy. For
example if somebody does not know what Bison is and has never seen one, we
can give an analogy of a cow saying that the Bison grazes grass like a cow
and give milk like a cow. But is much bigger in appearance than a cow.
This could help the person to identify the Bison later.

Artapatti or derivation
from situations. For example if a boy is not in school after 4p.m and is
not to be found in any of the known place to be found, we can tell that he
is at home. Again this is not true always. Will discuss this in detail
later.

Anupalabdi or Abahava , non-perception. Again not a very
reliable source or pramana. For example when the a article is expected to
be found at a particular place and is not found now, means it could have
been stolen.

If noted closely items
4-6 are derivations of 3. So we can take the first 3 as main categories. Why do
we need to know all these to understand the darshana's? Because each darshana
bases its tenets on one or more of these pramanas. For example Sankya accepts
only the first 3. All schools of Vedanta
accept all 6 and so on.

More on
Shabda pramana (Hereafter this will mean Vedic testimony unless specified
otherwise)

The reason why the
Vedas are considered reliable means of knowledge or pramana is due to the
effort taken to preserve them as is. The body of knowledge generated to
preserve them itself is a vast ocean. Apart from the Angas, we have
pratishakyas for each shaka, lakshana books, various kind of shiksha's like
pluta shiksha and so on. Why do we do this for the Veda? Because the Vedas are
considered apaurusheya (Not
man-made) or revealed to a rishi. So the source of that piece of knowledge is
super-sensual. So it is good if we restrict Shabda pramana to the vedas & angas alone.

Enough with the
digressions we will start discussing each Darshana in no particular order. I
plan to give an elaborate explanation for 5 other Darshanas other than Vedanta
as that seems to be the most popular one.

The
Darshanas in detail

Vedanta

The reason for
starting with this is that, this is the most famous among the six. As everybody
knows, Veda+Anta = Vedanta. The portions that appear at the end of each Veda
i.e.the Upanishads are the basis for this school of philosophy. Examples are
the well-known Taittriya, Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya etc. They occur at the end
of the Taittiya Brahmana, Shatapatha Brahmana and Talavakara Brahmana
respectively. But the Ishavasyopanishad occurs in the samhita of the Shukla
yajus.

In addition to the
Vedic sources the Brahma sutras and the Gita also forms an important part of
this school. This school accepts all the 6 pramanas stated above. All the 3
Upanishads, Brahma sutras and Gita are called prastana traya. Unfortunately
because of a lack of padha pata and swaras for most Upanishads (The Taittriya
and Isha and Brihadaranyaka have swaras) and due to different interpretation of
the Brahma Sutras there are 3 schools
under Vedanta Advaita, Vishishtadvait and Dvaita. I do not plan to go into the details of each
school here as they are known very well and there are large number of followers
in each school. It should be said to some extent that Vaidika Dharma has survived because of these 3
schools. The reason is that these 3 mutts have preserved the Vedas and
much of the local arts and literature. Like for example the Shri Vaishnava
mutts have preserved the Divya prabhandam in tamizh and the Madhva mutts have
preserved Kannada devotional literature.

Note that though there are 108 Upanishads available
(Some consider it to be 1008), only 10-15 are considered to be authentic by the
traditional acharya’s of the 3 schools. The criteria for an Upanishad to
be considered authentic
are,

1.It
belongs to an existing Vedic shaka and is of considerable antiquity

2.It
does not have sectarian overtones.

3.Its
tenets do not go against the mainstream Shruti, Smriti and Shishtachara.

The reasons for criteria 1 is that if the
Shaka of the Upanishad is known, then the swara rules for that shaka become
known. Based on this criterion alone it is possible to eliminate many so called
Upanishads. The second criterion is to safe guard Vaidhika dharma from external
attacks. Imagine what it would be like if a Christian missionary somehow wrote a
“Yesopanishad” and
let it loose. The unsuspecting Hindu with his liberal outlook may be deceived. So if any Upanishad harps too much on one deity who does not
belong to the Vedic pantheon or even on one deity who is found in the purana
alone, then it is to be rejected.

That is why Upanishads
like the Ganesha Atharva Shira
though chanted widely in south India, is not considered authentic because its
swaras are ambiguous. I have checked with Atharva Vedins and they are sure that
it is not part of the 2 existing Atharva shakas, Shaunikiya and Paipalada. The
same goes for the Kali Santara
Upanishad. It is the one that gives the mantra “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”
Vedic sanctity. But even Vaishnavaite schools of Vedanta do not consider it
authentic because it fails criterion 1, 2 and 3.

Consider the Vajra Suchiko Upanishad. It
says that “A brahmin is a brahmin only if he realizes brahman and not just by
wearing a yajnopavita, shika and vedic study”.
Astika’s reject this because if
the Upanishad is taken, then Brahmins can never perform the Shastraic ordained
duty because only a Brahma jnani can be a Brahmin. This violates criteria 1 & 3. How many Brahmins
can be a brahma jnani in thousand years? Actually this Upanishad is suspected
to be a work of the Baudha Nagarjuna. There are
a number of cases like this and it would be impossible to list them here.

5 comments:

Very good article, thanks for posting this. One doubt. What is this ""Vedi period""? I believe this was coined by the colonial British to date Vedas in relation to Biblical times and it has no relevance in the Indian Dharmic context. As Vedas are as old as time, where does this Vedic period comes from? I would apprecite Madam Ji"s view on this. Thanks.

Yes, the classification such as Vedic period is modern, done by foreigners and also some Hindus themselves resort to that. As far as I can understand, the classification must be that of Manvanthras and / or that of Sapta rishis. If we want to further simplify this to rope in recent history, we can go by the order of kings - mostly of Ikshvaku dynasty. Those associated with Vaivasvatha Manu gave Rig Veda. My view on chronology of Vedas is that Atharva Veda (40000 years ago), then Sama Veda, then Yajur Veda and then only Rig Veda. Vaivastha Manu is positioned here - in this Rig Vedic period.

I have a plan to write articles on these based on inputs from Ithihasas. Let me see when I can do it.

@RKThanks for your comments. I had put it in double quotes "Vedic period". You are right in stating what you said. I meant in 2 ways1. In a pejorative way as indicated by the double quotes.2. What i mean is that those darshanas have been there from the time the Veda rishis were there.You can find various references to them in the Upanishads like Taittriya, Katopanishad and so on.

@MadamMadam such rigid time periods for each Veda may be difficult to accept, because in the Rig Veda we find references to the Yajus and Samans and atharva. The Yajus mentions the other 3 and so on. So the various Vedas did not rise in isolation.

According to me the chronology of ended with 13,000 + years ago when Vaivasvatha Manu settled down in the Saraswathi basin. By then all the Vedas had come to stay. It is even said that there are many Vedas and not just 4 Vedas. Around 5000 years ago, Krishna Dwaipayana ( Veda Vyasa) picked out some and grouped them which is what we have now. (This means the division into 4 was done by Veda Vyasa). Therefore in the in-between period of 13,000 + yrs to 5000 years ago, the mixing as Mr Ramanathan said had happened. This makes it difficult to say which came first or later. But if we accept the idea as I said, the cross reference / mixing issues are understandable.

One reason why I said Rig Vedic renditions came after Yajur Vedas (originally) is that yajnas were already in vogue in Vaivaswatha Manu's times. And he had asked for a yajna to beget a male baby which was obliged by Vashishta. Perhaps Pumsavanam was the yajna devised then for the sake of Vaivaswatha Manu.